Elaine Romero's brave, crisp drama, Graveyard of Empires, is having its premiere as part of 16th Street Theater's eighth season, showcasing the theme "Fathers Daughters Mothers Sons." This is the first installment of the playwright's trilogy, "The U.S. at War." The tightly directed new work, which runs 90 minutes without an intermission, features powerful performances in overlapping plot lines that flow through space (Las Vegas, Washington D. C., and Afghanistan) and memory. The production has been Jeff Nominated.

A few years ago when Forbes Magazine featured a story on downsizing, they turned to Evanston resident Richard Meliska for help illustrating the 10 tips set forth in the article. Meliska, who along with his wife Merrill Essex, owns Essex Estate Services, often works in the Oak Park and River Forest area, and recently came to town to speak about downsizing and help out with appraisals at the Oak Park-River Forest Historical Society's annual appraisal event, "What's It Worth?"

On March 12, the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust opened a Restoration Resource Center to Trust members. The extensive archive of resources for the conservation, restoration and preservation of historic buildings is intended to aid homeowners of Wright-designed and other historic homes in their restoration and conservation efforts.

As a long winter draws to a close (well, closer), everyone's wish list probably includes a vacation to a warmer climate. But if your home were a light-filled Mediterranean style "villa," you could save the airfare and just pretend you're in Europe.

Friday night, the American Writers Museum, a new enterprise based in Chicago, will co-host a fundraiser with the Oak Park Public Library in the second-floor Veterans Room at 7. Writer and media personality Rick Kogan (Chicago Tribune, WGN Radio) will be on hand to interview two of Oak Park's best known writers, novelist Elizabeth Berg and journalist/author Alex Kotlowitz.

It's impossible to do watercolor paintings while snorkeling, but I was able to take hundreds of watercolor photos as I snorkeled the clear waters of Jamaica, Bonaire, and the Cayman Islands where some fascinating sea creatures appeared.

While other schools are choosing preferred electronic devices and either providing or demanding that parents provide uniform tablets or laptops, Trinity High School has gone another route with its "Bring Your Own Device" program this school year.

If you need a lift and simultaneously would enjoy feeling great about our community, head on over to Oak Park and River Forest High School this weekend and witness the splashy old-fashioned musical Anything Goes. You'll find invigorating, escapist entertainment that was designed to uplift Depression-weary audiences, but its many charms also work for those trapped in a seemingly endless winter.